Cirrus

Hardcover | December 15, 2001

Cirrus clouds are high, thin, tropospheric clouds composed predominately of ice. In the last ten years, considerable work has shown that cirrus is widespread--more common than previously believed--and has a significant impact on climate and global change. As the next generation weathersatellites are being designed, the impact of cirrus on remote sensing and the global energy budget must be recognized and accommodated. This book, the first to be devoted entirely to cirrus clouds, captures the state of knowledge of cirrus and serves as a practical handbook as well. Each chapter isbased on an invited review talk presented at Cirrus, a meeting hosted by the Optical Society of America and co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. All aspects of cirrus clouds are covered, an approach that reaches into diverse fields. Topics include:the definition of cirrus, cirrus climatologies, nucleation, evolution and dissipation, mixed-phase thermodynamics, crystallinity, orientation mechanisms, dynamics, scattering, radiative transfer, in situ sampling, processes that produce or influence cirrus (and vice versa), contrails, and theinfluence of cirrus on climate.

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Cirrus clouds are high, thin, tropospheric clouds composed predominately of ice. In the last ten years, considerable work has shown that cirrus is widespread--more common than previously believed--and has a significant impact on climate and global change. As the next generation weathersatellites are being designed, the impact of cirrus...

"This text presents in an edited book form the invited papers from an October 1998 meeting, held in Baltimore and sponsored by the Optical Society of America (OSA). This was the first ever international scientific meeting devoted to cirrus clouds. The twenty-one chapters provide a technicalsurvey of cirrus clouds, and is intended to fill the large gap between elementary treatments of cirrus and advanced forefront research papers. A sampling of topics includes the history and definition of cirrus, ice crystals in cirrus, satellite remote sensing, ground-based remote sensing, contrailcirrus, subvisual cirrus, and cirrus, climate and global change. For cirrus researchers, and other interested scientists new to the field, including students, meterologists, atmospheric chemists, nucleation specialists, crystallographers, and aerodynamicists."--SciTech Book News